We are connected to each other not only as humans, but to every living thing on the planet.

Things are always harder than you think they're going to be.

Dignity is more important than wealth.

If you're looking at distributing alternative energy in Nigeria, for instance, what gets in your way is not people's ability to pay, not people's desire for a clean solar lamps or biomass opportunities. But there is a strong status quo that really depends on selling diesel.

People really don't want handouts, that they want to make their own decisions.

What we call people so often distances us from them, and makes them little.

When we were walking through the narrow alleys [of the Mathare Valley slums], it was literally impossible not to step in the raw sewage and the garbage alongside the little homes. But at the same time it was also impossible not to see the human vitality, the aspiration and the ambition of the people who live there.